


Lightening the Mood

by darlo



Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, this is really lighthearted because its what this fanbase needs honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23472706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlo/pseuds/darlo
Summary: Russell, Tabasa, and Gardenia, take a break from exploring the creepy house in the tree. While there, they make a new friend.
Relationships: Russell Seager & Tabasa Mcneil & Gardenia Reitman
Comments: 9
Kudos: 21





	Lightening the Mood

“Let’s rest here,” Russell announced as he entered the room at the end of the hall. He glanced back at his two companions behind him, who both seemed relieved at the idea.

When the mysterious Informant had given Russell the Celebration compass, the young dreamer hadn’t expected the monsters roaming around the area to be so tough. They were full of pity: a weeping letter full of unsent wishes and a vengeful present with it’s blue ribbon untied. They left bruises and small cuts all over Russell’s already frail body, but somehow, the most painful part was how they made his heart feel so heavy in his chest.

His two friends seemed to be in a sorry state, too. Tabasa was walking with a limp, though he assured Russell that he didn’t need to worry, and Gardenia seemed rather pale compared to how she usually was. When they followed Russell into the room off to the side, however, their wounds seemed to heal themselves, and in an instant, they were back to health.

While Gardenia looked around the new room, Tabasa paused before going further inside. “You’re not too hurt, are you, bud?” he asked Russell, who lingered around the light pink balloon floating near the door. The boy in question looked up at the zookeeper, noticing the concern on his face. Russell nodded in response: “I’m alright,” he mumbled, looking off to the side once more. Tabasa didn’t seem to mind this brief response and gave a pleasant smile, ruffling the boy’s hair a little. “That’s great. I’m glad,” he said. Content, he followed Gardenia further into the room.

After taking in his surroundings, Tabasa spoke up again. “It’s kinda scary here, isn’t it? It’s pretty big, too. Wonder why someone would leave everything like this,” he frowned, looking around at the room the trio were now resting in. This prompted Russell to look around, too. The zookeeper was right about the area being disturbing; an unsettling smile was etched into the wall, the table and chair in the middle of the room seemed as though they were about to collapse, and there were a mass of cobwebs in the corners of the room, despite there being a strange lack of spiders to account for them.

Gardenia nodded in response to Tabasa. “Well... it’s not so bad! The roses look nice, and the balloons are so cute!” She grinned, her smile as cheerful as could be. The zookeeper paused to consider what she said. “That’s true, yeah. They’re a nice touch,” he agreed, “they seem kind of out of place, though.”

To this, Gardenia had to agree. It was strange how there were no other balloons throughout the house, though perhaps this room was special; there were no monsters coming in, after all. The girl hummed her agreement, when suddenly, she had an idea! With a mischievous glint in her bright eyes, she turned to the zookeeper once more.

“Tabasa! Do you have a marker?” she asked, a wide grin across her face. It was her lucky day, because Tabasa did in fact happen to have one. He had put one in his coat pocket after taking notes about the animal’s food portions. With an eyebrow raised in curiosity, he pulled it out. “Yeah, I do. Why?”

Gardenia took the marker from his hand. “You’ll see!” she sang, a playful tone in her voice and an even more playful expression to match. At this point, Russell was looking at her, too. “Both of you! Turn around and close your eyes until I say so,” she instructed, taking Russell’s hand and guiding him to stand beside Tabasa, who was now as puzzled as ever. Despite his confusion, he decided to entertain whatever the Gardenia had in mind. “Alright,” he agreed, turning around and closing his eyes. Russell followed suit, putting his hands over his eyes for good measure.

A couple of seconds passed, along with a number of strange squeaking noises, before the two got confirmation to turn around again. “OK! You can look now!” Gardenia called, excitement clear in her voice. Following orders, the two turned around to see what the girl had planned.

What they saw was a fun sight. Gardenia had taken the pink balloon which was by the entrance and had used the marker to draw a funny face on it, with big eyes, a wide smile, and a tongue sticking out of the corner of its mouth. She had even gone as far as to untie her hair and use the ribbon as a bow tie for the balloon. Holding it in front of her face, she said in a comically deep voice: “It’s me, mr. Balloon Head! Hello, everyone!”

Tabasa was still confused, though he had an amused smile on his face. Once more, he decided to play along. Russell looked like he could use some fun, after all. “Hm? I haven’t seen you around here before. Hey, Balloon Head,” he greeted.

“That’s mister Balloon Head! I’m a proper man, can’t you see by my bow tie?”  
“Oh, my bad. Hey, Mr. Balloon Head.”  
“How do you do? I’m here to grant you both a wish!”

Tabasa glanced at Russell, who was watching them both silently. The zookeeper always had a difficult time telling what the young boy was thinking, but he assumed Russell wouldn’t mind playing around a bit, too. “Did you hear that, Russell? That’s exciting. What are you going to wish for?” he asked.

Russell blinked, remaining silent. What did he want? There were many things he wanted, truthfully, but he couldn’t say any of them. After a moment, he spoke softly, saying the first innocent thing that came to mind: “To sleep well.”

‘Mr. Balloon Head’ laughed in response to this, bobbing back and forth. “Ho ho ho! Well then, Russell, consider it done! You’ll sleep like a baby tonight, and you'll have the best dreams ever,” the balloon promised. Gardenia turned to Tabasa, the balloon still raised to her face. “What about you? What does your heart desire?”

The zookeeper thought for a moment. Of course, Gardenia couldn’t grant just anything, so he may as well say something fun. “Well, I wish for Gardenia to stop losing her hair ornaments in the forest,” he joked to the balloon, his smile making it clear that he wasn't being serious.

“Well, Tabasa, I’m a wish granter, not a miracle worker!” the balloon joked back. Laughing in her normal voice this time, Gardenia lowered balloon back down and put it back where she found it, taking the ribbon and tying her hair back up to it's usual style. Tabasa was chuckling too, and the atmosphere in the room now seemed much lighter than when they first came in. And despite not being able to laugh along, Russell’s heart did feel better, if only for a minute.

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to take a break from my assignments to write something happy for my favorite End Roll trio! I hope you all liked it!


End file.
